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6 Most Important Things in Business Today

According to several reports, Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has approached Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (NYSE: FOXA) about buying many of its assets. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, and the deal would give Comcast two major movie studios and several cable properties. There are further rumors Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) may have interest in the same assets.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) announced it will build a semi truck with a range of as much as 500 miles.

Meredith Cope. (NYSE: MDP) has made an official offer to buy Time Inc. (NYSE: TIME) for between $17 and $20 per share. Part of Meredith’s bid will be backed by the billionaire Koch brothers.

The widely debated Keystone XL pipeline has developed a leak. According to Reuters:

TransCanada Corp shut part of its Keystone oil pipeline system after a 5,000-barrel leak in South Dakota, the company said on Thursday, four days before neighboring Nebraska was set to decide on the company’s long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline.

Opponents of TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline seized on the spill, saying it highlighted the risks posed by the XL project – which has become a symbol for environmentalists of fossil-fuel pollution and global warming.

The head of Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) diversity program is leaving. According to Fortune:

Apple’s diversity chief is leaving the company after holding the job for only six months.

Denise Young Smith, a 20-year Apple veteran was most recently the company’s vice president of diversity and inclusion, is stepping down, Apple confirmed. TechCrunch first reported on Denise Young Smith’s upcoming departure.

She will be replaced by Christie Smith, a longtime Deloitte human resources executive. Unlike her predecessor, Christie Smith will not directly report to CEO Tim Cook, but rather to Deirdre O’Brien, who is Apple’s human resources chief.

Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS), beaten down by the move to book sales online, may go private. According to the New York Post:

An activist investor has proposed to take Barnes & Noble private in a deal that would value the bookseller at $650 million.

Sandell Asset Management’s surprise move, reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, comes nearly four months after the hedge fund made an impassioned plea for the company to go private, arguing that public markets were not fully appreciating the bookseller.